


Sleep Doesn't Come

by scifishipper



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-14
Updated: 2013-09-14
Packaged: 2017-12-26 13:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/966418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scifishipper/pseuds/scifishipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River forgets how to sleep, so she watches the others and tries to remember how.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep Doesn't Come

The girl doesn’t sleep like the rest of them. She rests, eyes closed, senses still active and alert. They’ve reprogrammed her body, made her work differently than the rest. It’s been so long since she’s really slept that she doesn’t even remember how.

So, the girl creeps sometimes into the others’ quarters, just to try to remember. 

Mal sleeps like she expects, gun at his side, body nude, face calm. He feels safe on his ship. But not too safe and she imagines he never does. He twitches in his sleep, his mouth quirking up into a smile, easy-going with an edge you don't cross. He’d shoot her if he knew she'd looked him over, paused at his manhood, wondered. Although he’d blush before he did it.

Zoe’s can't sleep either and the girl wonders if she’s been reprogrammed, too. Maybe Wash’s death made her that way. Maybe the dreams come for her, too. 

Simon sleeps differently with Kaylee wrapped around him. More peaceful. Less jumping up when she tiptoes next to his bed. The girl means no harm, she tells him, but Simon gets angry anyway. Some things are private, he says. Lots of things are different now that Kaylee’s there.

She knows Jayne sleeps like the dead. Doesn’t move when the girl steps in, walks across, spins around. Doesn’t stir when she touches his hat and his nudie girl posters. Doesn’t turn or wriggle or snort when she tucks the blanket under his chin. It is strange to see him this way, meanness gone, stubble on his jaw, no smart remark saying she’s _feng le_. The girl knows better than to touch Vera, though. So she sniffs, nose close but not touching. Takes in the clean deadly scent of oil and pride. Her body recognizes it. That smell makes her feel weird. Familiar. Jayne stirs and she steps back. Safety first.

Jayne snores softly again and the girl yawns. Tired from her seeing the others sleep. The girl curls herself onto Jayne’s sofa. She closes her eyes. She remembers.


End file.
